5/14/2006
PowerShell and file version information
I often want to get the version information about the files on my system. Version information is provided as part of the System.Diagnostics.Process object, but I often want the version information about applications that aren't running. This script allows me to get that information. I've written the script so it handles both piped input and command line arguments. It uses the begin/process/end features of the scripting language, so I can get it to behave almost like a compiled cmdlet.
Here's what it looks like when I use it:
PS> ls c:\windows\*.exe | get-fileversion
ProductVersion FileVersion FileName
-------------- ----------- --------
1.6.0.2 1.6.0.2 C:\windows\Alcmtr.exe
1.1.0.27 1.1.0.27 C:\windows\alcwzrd.exe
6.00.2900.2180 6.00.2900.218... C:\windows\explorer.exe
5.2.3790.2453 5.2.3790.2453... C:\windows\hh.exe
5, 51 5, 51, 138, 0 C:\windows\IsUninst.exe
1.1.0.8 1.1.0.8 C:\windows\MicCal.exe
5.1.2600.2180 5.1.2600.2180... C:\windows\NOTEPAD.EXE
5.1.2600.2180 5.1.2600.2180... C:\windows\regedit.exe
2.0.1.7 2.0.1.7 C:\windows\RTHDCPL.exe
1.0.1.51 1.0.1.51 C:\windows\RTLCPL.exe
2, 5, 0, 5 2, 5, 0, 5 C:\windows\RtlUpd.exe
1, 0, 0, 21 1, 0, 0, 21 C:\windows\SoundMan.exe
5.1.2600.0 5.1.2600.0 (x... C:\windows\TASKMAN.EXE
1,7,0,0 1,7,0,0 C:\windows\twunk_16.exe
1,7,1,0 1,7,1,0 C:\windows\twunk_32.exe
3.10.425 3.10.425 C:\windows\winhelp.exe
5.1.2600.2180 5.1.2600.2180... C:\windows\winhlp32.exe
or
PS> get-fileversion C:\monad\rc1\System.Management.Automation.dll
ProductVersion FileVersion FileName
-------------- ----------- --------
1.0.9567.1 1.0.9567.1 C:\monad\rc1\System.Management.Automation.dll
Here's the script - it's pretty straight forward. Since I don't know whether I'm going to have piped input or not, I use the begin script block to declare a couple of functions that will be used by either of the process or end blocks.
The real work is done in the function GetVersionInfo where I simply call the GetVersionInfo static method on the System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo type. Note that most of the code is error correction and ensuring that I get a proper path when I call the GetVersionInfo method.
param ( [string[]]$paths )
begin {
# I want to do some stuff with relative paths.
# create a variable that I can use later
$P = [string](get-location)
# the workhorse of the script
function GetVersionInfo
{
param ( [string]$path )
# resolve the path, we're going to need a fully qualified path to hand
# to the method, so go get it. I may not have that depending on how
# was called
$rpath = resolve-path $path 2>$null
# the thing we hand to the method is the path string, so we'll tuck that away
$path = $rpath.path
# check to be sure that we're in the filesystem
if ( $rpath.provider.name -ne "FileSystem" )
{
"$path is not in the filesystem"
return $null
}
# now that I've determined that I'm in the filesystem, go get the fileversion
$o = [system.diagnostics.fileversioninfo]::GetVersionInfo($path)
# this little dance adds a new property to the versioninfo object
# I add the relative path to the versioninfo so I can inspect that in the output object
# the way that add-member works is to not emit the object, so I need to
# use the -passthrough parameter
$o|add-member noteproperty RelativePath ($path.replace($P,".")) -pass
}
# whoops! something bad happened
function ShowFileError
{
param ( [string]$path )
if ( test-path $path -pathtype container )
{
"$path is a container"
}
else
{
"$path not found"
}
}
}
# data could have been piped - check $_ to see if this cmdlet had data
# piped to it
process {
if ( $_ )
{
# make sure that I'm not trying to get a versioninfo of a directory
if ( test-path $_ -pathtype leaf )
{
GetVersionInfo $_
}
else
{
ShowFileError $_
}
}
}
# we could have also gotten arguments on the command line
end {
if ( $paths )
{
# by calling resolve path first, I can deal with wildcards on the command line
foreach ( $path in resolve-path $paths )
{
# make sure it's a file, not a directory
if ( test-path $path -pathtype leaf )
{
GetVersionInfo $path
}
else
{
ShowFileError $path
}
}
}
}
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